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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22995577">I come back changed, I can feel it in my bones</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayj4ck/pseuds/Rayj4ck'>Rayj4ck</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But I just kept adding stuff, F/F, Hence the title change, I was like "How do I explain 'this' part?, I've also added a surprise extra chapter, It's almost like a sickfic if you squint hard enough, Perfect, TWO EXTRA PARAGRAPHS OF TEXT, This went way longer than I meant, With a little angst and heavy tone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:54:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22995577</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayj4ck/pseuds/Rayj4ck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the weekly shenanigans have long-lasting effects. Maybe even permanent.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda &amp; Luz Noceda, Luz &amp; Friends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>488</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I fucked with the forces that our eyes can't see</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>You may be coming to this from a link that says "Jailbreak." It's not wrong. I changed the title around a bit,</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Amity gets an urgent message from Willow and Gus.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>When we first saw Luz do the light spell and how she has to tap the ring to activate it, I immediately went "Man, it would be cool if she had like a deck of playing cards with preloaded spells on it. Someone should do that." and it took me three embarrassingly long weeks to realize I was a someone.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Is everything Ok?” Amity asked as she approached the tree Gus and Willow were standing under. The message she got over Pentstagram had no detail whatsoever. <em> Meet in Hexs. courtyard ASAP. </em>It was the first message she had ever gotten from them, and as she approached and saw their tense body language, her concern only grew. </p><p>“It’s Luz and Eda.” Amity’s stomach lurched at Willow’s tone. It wasn’t good news. “The Warden caught them.” </p><p>Amity’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh gods.” Luz told her one day about her first run-in and subsequent escape from the Warden when she first arrived on the Isles. Amity knew the Warden was not a reasonable man to begin with, and if he had caught someone who had escaped him before...her blood chilled at the thought. “We have to get her out of there.”</p><p>Willow and Gus both raised an eyebrow at her. She looked at them uncomprehendingly for a moment before it dawned on her. “Oh, and Eda too.” </p><p>“Yeah, that’s why we messaged you! We...don’t have a plan.” Gus looked down sheepishly, kicking a small rock along the ground. Amity couldn’t stop the knee-jerk reaction to berate his “incompetence” from flaring up, but she pushed it down. She knew Willow and Gus were probably just as scared as she was right now, and they didn’t deserve to have her panic unloaded onto them. </p><p>“That’s Ok,” Amity said, her brain working fast. “I don’t either.” their faces sank. “But I know where to start.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Gods, how they put up with that door is beyond me,” Amity grumbled as she walked briskly down the Owl House corridor. </p><p>“What are we doing here Amity?” Willow asked, trailing behind her. </p><p>“Are we here to get an ancient, powerful weapon to help us topple the jail?” the excitement in Gus’ voice was mildly concerning. </p><p>“Not exactly.” She replied, stopping at the door she knew to be Luz’s. Pushing it open, she scoffed. It was still just a closet. <em> Honestly, how could Eda have not made at least a mattress for her yet? </em> “It’s a project Luz had. It should be immensely helpful.”  She began pulling aside books and looking behind boxes. “Come on...she must have it around here somewhere…” she muttered to herself as she rummaged around the room, making a note to herself to apologize to Luz later. “Aha!” She held a small package above her head triumphantly. Opening it, she quickly flipped through the contents, satisfied with what she saw. <em> She really has learned a lot… </em></p><p>“Amity.” Willow’s voice held a tinge of annoyance. “What is that? What are we doing here?”</p><p>“We’re giving Luz a fighting chance.” She turned back to the other two, dead serious. “Come on. We’re going to the Conformatorium.”</p><p>“I thought you didn’t have a plan!” Gus asked as she pushed back toward the front door.</p><p>“I don’t. But Luz will.” </p>
<hr/><p>“Gus…”</p><p>“I’m working on it! This spell is hard you know!” Gus hissed back at them, although his head didn’t move. The otherworldly teal glow in his iris gave away his actions as he piloted the Illusionary Eye around the outside of the Conformatorium tower while Willow and Amity kept watch. “Come on, come on.” He whispered, more to himself than the girls. “You have to be in one of these…there!” Amity couldn’t help herself, she turned to face Gus as if he could somehow show her Luz right before them. The glow faded from his eyes, and he pointed to a window on the tower. “That one.”</p><p>It was about halfway up. Amity looked to Willow uncertainly, but she nodded confidently. Taking the lead, Amity snuck over to the patch of ground below the window. Now she looked to Gus. “Are you sure you can do two spells like this in a row?”</p><p>“I’ll be alright. I wasn’t going to be a big help in the inevitable brawl anyway.” Gus formed another spell circle in the air and a blue aura enveloped them like a blanket. Willow’s eyes began to glow green, and Amity braced herself as a massive plant stalk sprouted beneath her, it’s solitary leaf carrying her up and up. Amity stomped down on her own panic, being so obviously presented to the world breaking the law. But she knew that while she was top Hexside student overall, Gus and Willow were unmatched in their fields. The spells would hold. </p><p>The plant slowed to a stop, and when she turned, Amity’s breath caught in her throat. There she was. Luz was sitting against the wall, dejected look on her face almost too much for Amity to bear. She carefully made her way to the edge of the leaf and put both hands on the barred window. “Luz. Luz!” Luz’s head perked up, and she glanced at the window curiously. “Yes! Over here!” Jumping to her feet, she made her way over suspiciously, until she crossed the radius of the spell and Amity blurred into view. </p><p>“Amity!” Luz’s face brightened immediately, and she rushed over. She could just peek over the lip if she stood on the cot of her cell, so she had to settle for entwining her fingers through Amity’s around the bars. “What are you doing here?” </p><p>“We’re helping you get out.” </p><p>“Really?” Luz’s heart melted. She knew how hard it was for Amity to go against the rules, it really meant a lot to her. “Amity.” </p><p>The fondness in the name nearly made Amity slide off the leaf, and she could feel her face heating up. “Here.” She quickly shoved the small box between the bars, turning away in embarrassment. </p><p>Luz caught it reflexively, but when she realized what it was, her eyes lit up. “My cards!” Flipping open the lid, she slid the card out of the package and fanned out the deck, the spell circles Sharpie-d over the faces glowing faintly, waiting to be used. She looked back to Amity with unrestrained glee and gratitude, and Amity felt her face grow even warmer. “Thank you.”</p><p>“Yes, well, uh, Willow and I can help you however else you need. Gus will be too exhausted.”</p><p>“That’s alright.” Luz paced back and forth, plan beginning to form. “I have an idea. You and Willow wait for the signal, you’ll know it when you see it.” She motioned Amity to lean closer to the window, and when she did Luz jumped up and kissed the tip of her nose. Grinning at Amity’s red face, she said “Head back down. I’ll see you soon.” She pulled one of the cards out of the deck, and gave Amity a thumbs up. Amity tapped the leaf twice, and with one last look to Luz, descended back down to the ground. </p><p>“Everything Ok?” Willow asked, barely out of breath. Gus, unfortunately, didn’t have as much stamina, gasping out a breath as he dropped the illusion, leaning against the wall and wiping sweat off his forehead.</p><p>“Yes. She says there’ll be a signal. We’ll know what it is.” A twinge of worry seemed to be hanging onto her gut refusing to be banished. “We just wait until then.”</p><p>Willow nodded and turned to Gus “You ok?” </p><p>“Yeah...I’m good…” he panted out. “Here...before I go.” He pulled two fist-sized rocks out of his robe pockets, putting one in each of their hands. It looked like any rock you could pick up off the side of the road, but there was a glowing blue circle carved into the surface. “Trick i learned...from Luz. None of us...are ready for our first wanted poster.” Tapping the circles on each rock. Amity had no time to react before it seemed to fold in on itself, down into a ball of shadow the size of a marble. Just as quickly, it sprung forth, seeming to wrap around her shoulders. Looking over quickly, it seemed like a cloak had settled over her, despite not feeling any added weight. Looking over to Willow, her jaw dropped open. A cloak indeed, made of the darkest material Amity had ever seen, had formed. The hood of the cloak cast an impossible shadow over her face, hiding all features except her chin and lower lip. </p><p>“This is incredible…” She breathed, assuming she looked the same.</p><p>“It should last an hour, more than enough time.” Gus had his breath back. He put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Good luck, not that either of you two will need it.” Turning away, he began to sneak back toward the entrance. </p><p>Amity wondered, not for the first time, why she had spurned these two for as long as she had. They were clearly stronger than any of her old friends, not that that was the only metric she measured by anymore. Gus was innovating his own spells at a fantastic rate, using the creativity and ingenuity that came naturally to Illusionists to push beyond what any had tried before. And Willow, her raw power was staggering, going so far as circle-less casting, a feat not seen on the Isles in many years. Speaking of…</p><p>Amity looked up. It was hard to tell of course, but Willow seemed to be staring intently at the Conformatorium wall, eyes peeled for the signal. Amity couldn’t help but grimace. After she and Luz had started dating, things between she and Willow cooled greatly. But there was still so much history to work through, too much to just disappear. The name was on the tip of her tongue, but an echoing <em> BOOM </em>pulled her attention away. Looking up, she saw the remnants of a massive fireball dissipating, and large chunks of stone falling away from the massive hole in the wall. She turned back to Willow, and they spoke in unison. </p><p>“Signal.”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em> 46…45…44…43 </em>
</p><p>Luz counted in her head as she threw the spells, knowing that the success of her plan lived or died on her not using up all her cards, and using them all in the right place at the right time. Another minion came around the corner, and she pulled out another. Tapping the middle, it transformed into a ball of floating acid, which she quickly launched at the foe. </p><p>
  <em>42</em>
</p><p>Turning the corner, she pumped her fist in the air. Eda was standing at the door to her cell, looking down the hall. “Luz!” She shouted when the human came into view. “You’re free! How?” </p><p>“Tell you later.” Pulling out another card, she pushed it against the cell lock. Tapping the middle, the card folded itself into the lock, and after a second it <em> ping! </em>ed and the door swung open. Thankfully they were only magic-proof from one side. “Where’s your staff and potion?”</p><p>“This way.” Eda quickly led them further into the building, ducking to the side as Luz threw more combat spells at oncoming enemies. </p><p>“Look at you. Casting spells to defend me. Maybe you don’t need me to teach you anymore.” Eda said fondly as they ran. She scratched the feathers sprouting on her arm, feeling a little guilty that she was unable to help. </p><p>“No!” Luz threw her next icicle particularly vehemently. <em> 37. </em>“I still have more to learn, and there’s no one else I’d rather learn from.” </p><p>Eda looked at her fondly for a moment, before gently pushing her beaming face away. “Alright, enough mushy stuff. We’re here.” Before them was the door to what looked like a magic-item evidence locker. Luz could see Eda’s potion glinting on the other side. Using another unlocking spell, the door popped open. Rushing in, Eda quickly yanked the cork out of the potion and chugged it down. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she shook out her arms and grinned as the feathers disconnected from her skin, floating gently to the floor. “Oh yeah!” Sauntering back out into the hallway, she formed a glowing circle in the air and watched in smug satisfaction as a section of wall further down the hallway erupted forward in an owl face, smushing an incoming goon. “We’re back baby! Staff next.” Mirroring her excited grin, Luz followed as Eda carved a path to her lost staff. </p><p>When they arrived, however, the mentor’s face fell. The staff was there, practically vibrating because so close to it’s master. But between them was a wall of translucent magic. “Aw crud. That barrier is too strong. I can’t break it in time.” Eda sounded defeated. </p><p>Luz shuffled her deck, looking through her options, even though she really knew there was only one. Gulping, she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking as she drew the ace of spades. </p><p>Luz, despite previous experience and common sense, wandered the Boiling Isles on occasion. One day, she was walking through a forest when she arrived at a strange section, even for the isles. There was a distinct border on the ground, and on the other side of it, everything was dead or dying. Sickly, gray trees were crumbling to ash, any patches of brown grass that remained were held together through habit alone, and not a drop of water could be seen, despite numerous dry and cracked riverbeds. Luz, letting her curiosity reign, forged toward the center of the circle of death. When she arrived, what she saw was a giant, sprawling tree, branches sticking out at odd angles. It was long dead, like everything else, but carved into the trunk was a black spell circle. It was unlike one she had ever seen, comprised not from glowing light, but pitch darkness, seemingly pulling shadows out of thin air into it’s void-like lines. It was drawn in the way Luz could use, lines present instead of the pure circle, and although it gave her a deep <em> wrong </em>feeling in the pit of her stomach, she knew any spell she could use she had to take. Snapping a quick picture with her phone, she got the heck out of there. Later that night, when she was inscribing her deck, she debated putting it on the ace for a long time. Eventually though, she did, and then made a quick prayer that she’d never have to use it. </p><p>“What are you doing?” Eda asked as she approached the barrier, ace of spades in hand.</p><p>“Stay back.” was her only reply. Stopping before the barrier, Luz pressed the card against it. Taking a deep breath, she tapped the circle. </p><p>“Ay!” A spark seemed to jump the gap after her finger pulled away, and she stuck it in her mouth. But her attention was dominated by the barrier. The card instantly disintegrated, and Luz and Eda watched in awe as a wave of darkness seemed to eat the barrier away. The staff rushed out through the hole, smacking an unprepared Eda in the face. </p><p>Shaking off her haze, she grabbed it off the ground. “What spell was THAT?”</p><p>“Less talky, more escape-y.” Luz pushed Eda over to a window. Pulling out her last five fireball cards, she smacked them against the wall. Activating them all simultaneously, another large section of the wall blew out. <em> 31. </em></p><p>“Luz, you know that courtyard is going to be a firing...range…” Eda trailed off as she looked down at the ground in awe. Jogging up next to Eda, Luz looked down as well, and a giant smile split across her face.</p><p>The courtyard was absolute pandamonium. Guards were running around, desperately trying to get a grip on the situation as two massive creatures, an abomination and an angry venus flytrap each the size of a small building, wreaked havoc. Between the creatures, back to back, were two robed figures.</p><p>“That’s my girlfriend and best friend!” She cheered as Eda grabbed her by the hood and dropped her on the staff, wings extended. As they flew over the chaos, Luz made sure to wave down to them. Thankfully, at least one nodded at her, so Luz wasn’t concerned as they flew off into the night. </p>
<hr/><p>“Luz, please. I can’t...breathe.” Gus was frantically tapping her arm as she squeezed him and Willow in a tight group hug.</p><p>“Oooh, I just can’t help it! You guys are the best friends I could ever ask for!” She squeezed them one last time, before dropping them back to the ground. “And YOU.” she whipped around to Amity, dangerous glint in her eyes. Amity’s widened and she began to put up her hands. </p><p>“Wai-” she got no further as Luz practically tackled her, sealing their lips together in a wild kiss. Amity stood in shock for a moment, unused to PDA. She let go eventually, closing her eyes and pushing back into Luz, trying to block out the presence of the painfully smug Eda and openly staring Gus and Willow. When they did separate, she was running out of breath. </p><p>“You ok kid?” Eda asked, concern laced in her seemingly uncaring words. “You nearly suffocated her there. You’re a lot more excited than usual, even for you.” </p><p>“My friends and girlfriend just broke us out of jail! This is like a literal dream come true!” she was bouncing up and down. </p><p>“Yeah, I guess.” Eda didn’t sound quite convinced. Something in her gut told her Luz was acting a little off. She couldn’t quite place it though, so she let it slide. “Anyway, thanks squirts for saving our butts.” She turned to the three Hexsiders. “You three are ok. Even you,” she said to Amity “even if you idolize my sister waaay too much.” </p><p>“IT’S...complicated.” Amity took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get angry. If anything, she was exhausted. The adrenaline of the day flooded out of her, and now all she wanted to do was sleep for eleven hours. “We should probably go before anyone puts together that we were mysteriously absent during the second Conformatorium jailbreak in history.” Gus and Willow nodded in agreement. </p><p>“Now you’re thinking like a convict!” Amity shot Eda a withering glare at the words, but it rolled off her. Sighing, she turned back to Luz. With one last hug for Gus and Willow, and a semi-deep kiss for Amity, they walked back through the forest toward the rest of society.</p>
<hr/><p>Later on, at midnight, no one was awake to notice a black spot form on finger Luz had used to touch the Withering Spell Circle. It grew to encompass the tip all the way to the first knuckle, before sinking deep into her skin, disappearing from view. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know King was mysteriously absent, but I honestly could not for the life of me figure out how to put him in the story and maintain the flow. Sorry King fans.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Now the darkness got a hold on me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luz was playing with magic she didn't understand, and now the bill comes due.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If I'm being honest, I wasn't going to continue this. Let you stew in a cliffhanger. But then I got a little idea. And then it became a couple of scenes. And then I was sitting down at my computer, just to try them out. And now we're here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Amity didn’t know much about the Old Ways of Magic. Up until recently, she didn’t even know there </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>been Old Ways. Hexside, and the Boiling Isles in general, seemed to be much less concerned with recording its history than the human world. Or, at least, what Luz told her about the human world. It wasn’t until Luz showed her the cracked phone, and what it revealed about spell circles, that Amity began to get an inkling that there was more to magic than she knew, more than possibly anyone knew. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the beginning, she was mainly doing it to sate her own curiosity, and to help Luz. Using her status as Top Hexside Student got her into a lot of the...less available book sections. There, she would dig through the oldest books she could find, and make a note of any Old Magic spell circles if she happened upon any. They were as frustratingly rare as information about them, but the light in Luz’s eyes when she was looking at a new spell to use made it all worth it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, she was still helping Luz. But for something else. Ever since the Conformatorium Breakout, she had been acting...off. She had always been very intense, but now her emotions seemed to fluctuate wildly with no apparent trigger. One moment she would be sobbing into Amity’s shoulder about her inability to do innate magic, the next she would be skipping around her bedroom animatedly describing how much she loved the decor, the next she would pin Amity down with a less-than-wholesome look in her eye, and the next she would rage about how unfair it all was. Seeing Luz angry like that, genuinely angry...she shivered just thinking about it. She had just assumed this was a normal part of being a human, so little she still knew of it, and that it would pass. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then Eda came to see her and revealed how bad it truly was. Apparently the cyclone Amity was seeing was only a fraction of the true storm, and in the Owl House Luz really let loose. It was so bad that even Eda, the Boiling Isles Queen of Chaos, was concerned. If Eda was a) concerned Luz was showing too little self-control, and b) coming to </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>for help, Amity officially considered this a crisis. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which is why she was here. Holding out her badge to the guard, they nodded solemnly before plunging a hand into their chest cavity and yanking out a key. Inserting it into the lock, it opened the giant double doors to The Records Room. Access to this area, where some of the most forbidden knowledge in the world, was less a Top-Student privilege and more an Apprentice-To-The-Person-With-The-Most-Political-Power-Beside-The-Emperor privilege, and she got in under the guise of acquiring some of the books for her master’s studies. Eda hadn’t given her much to go on, a spell circle she had used during the jailbreak. It’s only defining feature was it’s pitch-blackness, unlike any she had ever seen, and it’s the ability to eat away a shielding spell cast by four high-level witches in seconds flat. Amity made her way to the deeper recesses of The Records Room. Something like this would be very old, if here at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took her a lot of time. Too much, it felt, each second piling onto her shoulders like an unyielding drip, the belief that this was doing something bad to Luz a baseline of anxiety. After two hours of poring over ancient tomes, following paper trails volumes long, she finally arrived at her answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And her blood ran cold as she got it. Slamming the book shut, she stuffed it into her satchel and bolted for the door.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Is it really that bad?” Willow panted as she struggled to keep up with Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s probably worse.” Amity huffed as she sprinted through the forest. She hadn’t taken the time to explain, if the seconds had felt like piling grains before they now felt like boulders pounding against her, halting her progress toward the Owl House. Charging through the treeline, she skidded to a halt. “Oh no.” she whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There, outside the Owl House, Luz was hovering a foot off the ground in the eye of her own personal hurricane. Eda was bracing herself against the wind, her staff dug into the ground as an anchor. The little demon creature was holding tight to her dress, it being the only thing to keep him from being blown away. Eda was saying something to Luz, but the words were lost in the wind both to the three Hexsiders and to Luz herself it seemed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You three!” Eda called when she saw them struggling up to stand beside her. “Tell me you have some idea about what’s going on!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only a little!” Amity shouted back. “But we have to get her to stop!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No duh! But how?!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity looked over to Luz, who hadn’t seemed to have even noticed their presence yet, and steeled her nerve. “Let me try something!” Motioning at Gus and Willow to stay put for now, she turned back and began pushing toward Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz! LUZ!” That finally seemed to get her attention, and Luz looked down at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity! Look, I can do magic now! Real magic!” With a wave of her hand, a lightning bolt appeared from nowhere, singeing the ground nearby. Amity’s heart cracked a little at the joy in Luz’s voice, but she knew what she had read. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz! This isn’t right!” She shouted back. “Something bad is happening to you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luz sounded betrayed, and Amity’s heart broke a little more, but she pushed it down. “What do you mean Amity? I’m a real witch now!  I thought you would be happy for me!” The betrayal swiftly turned to anger, and Amity felt her nerves flare. There was no way she could summon an abomination in time, let alone keep it together in this wind. She was basically at the mercy of an emotionally unstable Luz. But it was still Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were always a real witch!” She was getting close now, the wind speed increasing rapidly and pushing her more to the side than back. “Who cares how you do the spells?! Everyone here never doubted you!” Luz looked up across the field and saw Eda, Gus, and Willow standing with any hair and loose clothing whipping around them. The wind began to die down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But, but...the cards are so dumb!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz, your cards are brilliant.” Amity didn’t have to shout anymore. “It was so impressive how you overcame an obstacle like that.” She broke into the eye of the storm and stumbled from the lack of sideways force, but stayed on her feet. Opening her satchel, she pulled out her trump card. Flipping open </span>
  <em>
    <span>Azura, Vol. 5</span>
  </em>
  <span> to the back cover, she held it up toward Luz. One day, she and Luz had decided to draw themselves on it, dressed as Azura, back to back. Allies against the world. It was one of the happiest afternoons of her life, the pair giggling and taking breaks from the practice sketches to chase each other around the room with sticks, re-enacting scenes from the book. She could only hope Luz felt the same. Thankfully, she hoped right. At the sight of the drawing, the human descended slowly back to the ground, and when she was low enough Amity put a gentle hand on her cheek, the storm all but dissipated now. “I promise I’m not angry, or jealous, or anything like that. Eda told me about the spell circle you used. It’s doing something to you Luz, something bad. Please let us help you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz hadn’t stopped staring at the picture, but when she did break eye contact and look at Amity, tears were shimmering in the corners. “Ok. Ok.” </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Eda was shocked to see Lilith breeze through the door. “What are you doing here?” She asked. No venom, but no joy either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I heard your student had involved herself in Darke Magic.” She glanced over to where Luz was laying on the improvised bed in the corner. “I couldn’t let it stand. Honestly, Eda, it would benefit you to instill at least some sense of caution into her.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I’ll have you know that-“ </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve been teaching her just fine! </span>
  </em>
  <span>The words died on her lips. She clearly hadn’t, or else they wouldn’t be here. “-that Luz can handle herself!” Eda didn’t give her sister time to reply. “Look, if you’re here to help just grab a book and start looking.” She gestured behind her, where Amity Gus and Willow had their noses in books that were at least several dozen pounds, many more stacked beside them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz was not having a good time. Amity had found that the spell circle she had used was some kind of bad magic, and it would corrupt anyone who wasn’t careful and prepared for it. Sure, it gave her the ability to cast magic without a card, without even a spell circle, but it would eat away her conscious mind the more she used it until she was no more than a magically charged zombie. That sounded bad, and Luz definitely didn’t want that. But it was hard. So, so hard. She could feel it singing in her blood, desperate to be let out like a dog struggling against its leash. It took frequent looks between the book she and Amity had drawn together, her friends, girlfriend, mentor, and mentor’s sister working diligently to help her(Lilith quietly marveled at it. She had never seen Edalyn so focused on a book before), and almost all of her willpower to stop from scratching the itch. But it was getting harder and harder. Especially as the itch was slowly transforming into a stinging pain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group was at it for thirty tortuous minutes before Gus looked up from his book. “Wait a minute.” All eyes turned to him. “What the fuck are we doing?” All eyes then widened in shock. Even Luz, who had two fistfuls of blanket to keep herself grounded, still gaped at him. No one had ever heard Gus swear. They all assumed he didn’t even know how. “The spell circle? Where did you see it?” He asked Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith scoffed at herself and put her head in her hands. Of course Luz hadn’t just made it up, and finding the original circle would help exponentially more than just seeing a picture in developing a counter-spell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In the woods. I can-hhh-take you there.” Luz swung around to stand, and Amity was there in an instant to help, Willow and Gus only a second behind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should stay and rest,” Amity answered, not even bothering to hide the concern in her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I can’t really draw you a map.” Luz looked to Amity with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>duh silly </span>
  </em>
  <span>grin on her face, but then she winced like she had just been jabbed in the side, ruining the effect. “Come on. The faster we...get this over with, the better.” Everyone in the room wanted to object, but they all knew Luz was right, there was no way she could direct them through the forest without being there. Grimacing, the group left the Records Room, Luz in the lead.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Of course a student of yours would just wander right into a forbidden zone,” Lilith commented as they held out their hands, keeping the Inspection Spell suspended in front of the Withering Spell carved into the dead tree trunk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, lay off! She didn’t know about it!” Eda jumped to Luz’s defense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And whose fault is that?” That one cut deep. Eda almost dropped her half of the spell and jumped her sister right there. But, as if on cue, a particularly bad moan came from the outer edge of the Dead Zone, where Luz was on the ground curled into the fetal position. Proximity to the original circle had an effect on the pain it seemed, and while the Hexsiders had stayed with her to help her manage, there was nothing to really be done without more knowledge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eda swallowed her pride and turned her head away. “Yeah well, whaddya want me to do, keep her chained to a desk?” She muttered, but they both knew her heart wasn’t in it. Lilith, to her credit, didn’t push the knife any deeper. What was done was done, and if anything the Emperor’s Coven should have handled this long ago, so she also felt responsible in an indirect way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence lay over them like a heavy blanket. Lilith was calm and composed, as always it seemed, but Eda was starting to get twitchy. Her student was in agony not 50 feet away! And all she could do was stand here and hold out her hands like some dumb zombie?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith knew that look in her sister’s eye well, even if they had been apart for years now. “Edalyn…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know! I know!” Eda snapped at her, her temper flaring. Lilith didn’t take the bait though, only raising an eyebrow. “It’s just...she…” Eda didn’t know how to put her feeling into words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.” Lilith did. Sighing, she dropped her arms. Without half of the sustaining source, the spell quickly flickered and died. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’re you doing?!” The desperation in Eda’s voice was palpable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This Darke Magic is old, Edalyn. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Too</span>
  </em>
  <span> old. It would need a whole team of specially-trained identifiers months of time to even crack the surface of this spell. We would spend our time better getting your student as far away as possible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, there is no cure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is. There always is. But we just don’t have the time to find it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eda went stiff as a board, and Lilith looked at her curiously. “If there’s no cure…” she trailed off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith knew what she was talking about instantly, that first night still a fresh wound in her mind.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t the same as your curse Edalyn.” It was a reflexive response, but a small voice in the back of her mind began to work on it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If we had enough magical power in a small enough area…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” Eda asked, throwing her arm out toward Luz. “She has a condition, same as me. There has to be a way to at least hold it back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith didn’t answer. That small voice had grown much louder. “Maybe…maybe...” She pondered a moment longer, and eventually sighed and put a hand on her temple. “I don’t know, it’s a longshot-”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Us outlaws are tough! Longshots are nothing!, Come on, what is it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If we could put enough warding spells in a small enough area, then it might hold back the corrupting force. Maybe even start to combat it.” Lilith grimaced as she talked. This was really their best option, but it wouldn’t be-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect!” Eda exclaimed, dashing over to the edge of the deadzone where Luz and her friends were gathered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait I wasn’t-!” But she was already gone. “Dammit Eda.” Lilith cursed as she followed behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-and then you’ll be good!” She heard the tail end of Eda’s excited recount of her plan just as she arrived. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” She spoke up. Five sets of eyes turned to her, and she continued. “Yes, we can place warding spells on some small object for her to keep with her that will withhold the corruption, but those spells will have to be recharged. By the caster. Daily.” The weight of it sunk onto them all. A spell like that takes a substantial amount of magical energy. The effect on the casters’ magic would be noticeable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz noticed the shift in the atmosphere. “Oh no, guys. You can’t do that for me, it’s my mess I can handle it.” Her feeble voice betrayed her strong words though, and she gritted her teeth through another wave of stabbing pain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No way we’re leaving you like this,” Willow stated firmly, and Gus nodded his agreement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity followed suit a moment later. “I am the top student at Hexside. If anything, this should be a valuable lesson in being efficient with my magic.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Also seeing you in pain like this is making me physically ill. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She kept to herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well then it’s settled. We’re all in.” Eda turned to Lilith. “What do we need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something with four distinct sides, one for each circle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, you’re not helping?” Amity sounded betrayed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid not. Dealing with Old Magics like this rely much more heavily on emotional connection. You four all have it, and I just don’t.” Lilith didn’t mince her words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha!” Eda’s face lit up, and she dug around in her pocket. “I knew this thing would come in handy someday.” Pulling her hand out, she opened her palm to reveal a 4-sided die. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gus gasped. “A human prophecy stone! Incredible!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even in her dire condition, Luz couldn’t help but giggle a little bit. “You’re not too far off actually.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That will do nicely. It should be simple really. Everyone pick a side, and engrave a warding spell onto it. Take a moment to prepare.” The three students nodded and began to clear their minds. Lilith shot Eda a look, and gestured to the side. They stepped out of earshot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? What is it?” Eda whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what will happen if you forget your potion right? And lose access to your magic?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eda clenched her fists. While not draining magic continuously, a spell like warding required the caster to have at least a little magic to function. Is her transformation went too far, and she lost her ability to cast...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I got it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good.” Lilith gave her a solemn nod and they returned to the group. “Ready?” Four nods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She held out the die, pinching two corners between her fingers. Eda and the three Hexsiders each picked a face and traced a tiny circle in the air, which was transposed onto the face of the die a moment later. They all had a distinct colored tinge, Amity’s purple, Willow’s green, Gus’ teal, and Eda’s orange. All in all, it was a very pretty effect. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith quickly spun her own circle around the d4, a binding spell to lock the others in place. After hers had faded, she quickly placed it in Luz’s open hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The effect was immediate. Luz gasped like she was coming up from holding her breath. The pain was dulled the moment the die made contact, and the comparable relief was almost euphoric. Sitting up, she squeezed the die tighter in her fist as if it would push it back further. Looking at the assembled crowd, she gave a shaky thumbs-up, and a collective breath was released.  </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Aaannnddd, done.” Amity sat back and admired her handiwork. A frame made from a twisted section of thin wire now surrounded the die in Luz’s palm, with a loop above the 4 (at Luz’s request) to thread something through. Which is exactly what Luz did. Taking a simple chain she had scavenged from Eda’s junk pile, she threaded it through the loop and the necklace was ready. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could...could you…?” Luz held the die out to Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Uh, yeah. Sure.” Amity took the chain and carefully worked it around Luz’s head so the die didn’t leave her palm. Blushing a little, she fastened the clip around Luz’s neck but didn’t let it go just yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, Amity? Are you ok?” She didn’t respond. The image of Luz curled up on the ground in agony had jumped to the front of her mind, and her gut twisted in response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eep!” Luz jumped slightly, her face exploding red as she felt a pair of lips brush the back of her neck. Amity wound her arms around Luz’s shoulders, and the lips became Amity’s forehead against the back of her skull.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A hundred different things to say came to Amity’s mind. Things about being careful next time, and not taking risks like that, but none of them felt right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re ok.” she eventually settled on whispering into Luz’s hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz smiled and put one of her hands over Amity’s. “I have you to thank for that. I’m sorry about how I was acting when you found me today.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be. Someone pretty smart once told me that just because we get lost sometimes doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to be found.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow! They sound smart. Who was it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity leaned to the side and turned Luz’s torso around just to show her the unimpressed look in her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It still took her a second. “Oh! Oh, that was me!” Amity chuckled at the realization crossing Luz’s eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shifting her legs, Luz grabbed Amity in a tight hug, and the chuckling became full on laughter as Luz’s fingers dug into Amity’s sides. “Oh, funny huh?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz, ha, stop that!” Amity’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Luz’s playfully wicked smile only grew as she continued her assault, her new necklace glowing faintly all the while. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me: I will add an 'e' at the end of 'dark.' It will sound more...ominous.<br/>My brain, lost control of my body years ago: Sure. Why not.<br/>[Psst. Hey. These titles are all song lyrics if you hadn't guessed. "Meet Me in the Woods" by Lord Huron]</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Holy darkness got a hold on me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>How we react in our worst nightmare is a good show of our true character.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you spongeguyandlelouchvibridank (god damn you picked a long username) for helping me work through some aspects of this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Luz was paralyzed with fear. She briefly considered pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, but even her nightmares weren’t this bad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You bastard!” Lilith spat as she struggled against the enchanted chains draining her magic and locking her to the wall, but they held firm. “You told me you were going to cure her!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lilith, please. I am a man of my word.” The cold, impersonal voice of the Emperor sent a chill down Luz’s spine. “I will cure her. I’ll cut this curse out, piece. By. Piece.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah right! I’d like to see you try!” Eda shouted at him from where she was strapped to a table, spread-eagle. “You can just run Luz, I can handle this guy!” But Luz had been with Eda for too long, she was beginning to get a handle on reading her. And she was bluffing, hard. Eda had no plan and no way out of this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let her go!” Hearing her name snapped her out of it, and although she was still terrified, Luz wouldn’t just sit by and watch it all happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh? And how will you make me?” Luz grimaced. It was true, she had no more cards left, nothing more to write new spell circles with, and even if she did the Emperor’s magic was still too strong compared to hers. She briefly considered physically overpowering him, but she was unarmed and he was much stronger than her. Wracking her mind in a panic, she kept coming up empty, even as the Emperor summoned a wicked knife and leaned menacingly over a wide-eyed Eda. She was just on the verge of giving up when the thought flashed through her mind. She did have magic. Just magic she had never dared use. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hand reached up, trembling slightly, and gripped the d4 hanging around her neck. Looking up, Eda and Lilith were too focused on the Emperor to notice, but Gus, Willow, and Amity were staring directly at her, eyes wide. Amity in particular gave a subtle but emphatic shake of her head, and the discernable fear and concern in her eyes made Luz’s heart clench. But the knife was pressing lightly against the gem in Eda’s collarbone now, so with an apologetic and hopefully comforting look, Luz yanked the necklace off and threw it across the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The effect was immediate. The old pain she had felt a month or so ago came raging back in full force, and she dropped to a knee in shock, gasping as if she had just been dunked into a bathtub full of ice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fascinating choice.” The Emperor remarked, studying Luz with a fascinated look. The others in the room, however, knew what was about to happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz felt the fear of losing herself to the animalistic howl in her veins settle over her heart like a vice grip, but she pushed it back. She knew this was the only way. Slowly, she allowed the magic to ebb into her, and a crackling started at the tips of her fingers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not possible.” The Emperor muttered as everyone else braced for impact. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a roar, Luz swept up her hand like she was throwing dirt into his eyes. But instead, a massive gust of wind threw him backward, blowing out the door behind him and sending him tumbling through. Luz’s body blurred as she shot after him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dammit Luz, why’d you go and do that?” Eda muttered, beginning to work the leather strap on the table to get enough friction to disconnect her hand at the wrist. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>The Emperor ducked as a bolt of lighting singed over his head and veered into the internal courtyard of his castle. “What is this, some illusion?!” He called to Luz. Luz didn’t answer, instead raising a hand above her head. A tangle of vines wrapped themselves around the surprised Emperor’s feet before yanking him into the air and slamming him down into the ground. Not an illusion then. The Emperor traced a quick circle in the air, and a column of fire shot forward. But in the time it had taken to trace the circle Luz had already extended her hand, no spell circle required, and a jet of water materialized, easily extinguishing the Emperor’s attack. She then held her arms out like she was offering a hug, but swung them into a clap in front of her. Around them, the walls exploded inward following the path of her hand, hurdling toward the Emperor. He made a quick bubble around himself to protect from the incoming rubble, but once again Luz’s speed was unmatched. She was already jabbing a hand out, a bolt of shadows rolling off her fingers and piercing through the shield. The Emperor wheezed and fell back onto the ground, and that small opening was all Luz needed. With a quick flick of her wrist, a small chunk of wall ruble shot forward like it had been launched from a sling and connected with the Emperor’s temple, knocking him unconscious. Luz hovered there for a moment, genuinely considering hitting him with a bigger rock for all the suffering he’d caused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz!” Like a guardian angel, Amity rushed through the holes she had made in the walls. “Luz, you can stop, he’s unconscious now, it’s over.” As she spoke, Lilith passed by her, fastening a pair of the magic-draining cuffs over the Emperor’s hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A part of Luz’s mind refused. It was angry and dark and wanted to take all of her anger out on the man on the ground before her, and then the rest of the world. But the other part, the larger part, remembered what she was like when all this had started. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, she calmed the raging voice in her mind. “Right. Right.” Her voice sounded off though, and she crossed her eyes down toward her nose as if she could physically see her mouth and figure out what was wrong with it. She saw nothing out of the ordinary there, but when she saw her hands in her peripheral vision, her breath caught in her throat. A black spot had appeared on her hands, encompassing them and snaking its way along her veins up her arm. “Uh oh,” she whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go get the necklace!” Gus spun around back toward the interior, but Lilith put out a hand to stop him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid that it won’t be effective anymore. The corruptive force has spread too far.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There has to be something!” Willow cried, looking up to Lilith desperately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lilith wasn’t just going to give up on Luz either, but she was coming up dry for alternatives. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh screw this.” Eda stepped forward and spun a spell circle in the air. Luz gasped, and the shadow creeping up her arm slowed a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edalyn, what are you doing?” Stepping up next to her sister, Lilith’s eyes widened. “A nullification spell? The power requirement would be astronomical-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I!” Eda sounded like she was preventing a heavy boulder from rolling down a hill. “Am the strongest witch! On the Boiling Isles! And I have no doubt! That the next four strongest are standing around here doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” She spat the last word through gritted teeth. “So if you maybe want to jump in here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Each of the other four magic users individually came to the same conclusion as Eda had. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Screw that.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Fanning out around Luz, they crafted their own nullification spells and began to help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It felt to Luz like a set of massive magnifying glasses were focused on her, burning her under their harsh light. But she didn’t dare show it, because through her spotty vision she saw the darkness receding back down her arm, hissing away into the air like steam through her fingertips. Clenching her teeth, she knuckled down on the pain and pushed too. Slowly, torturously slowly, the shadow drained out. Luz could only manage a weak “Yes.” before her legs gave out. Thankfully Eda was there to catch her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know this isn’t a permanent measure Edalyn.” Their voices were so far away…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know. But there’s one last thing we haven’t tried.” was the last thing Luz heard before slipping into unconsciousness. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>The incessant beeping of her alarm was the first thing she heard. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ugh. Don’t wanna get up. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She waved her hand around next to her bed, but couldn’t seem to find the nightstand. Blearily cracking open an eye, she tried to find it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, it’s not my phone, it’s a vital sign monitor. That makes sense…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait-!” Luz shot up in bed, then winced and fell back, pain lancing through her like a lightning bolt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz? Luz you’re awake!” Turning over in the hospital bed she was lying in, Luz saw Amity spring up from one of the chairs at her bedside. “Oh thank the gods!” She fell on Luz with a hug, but before Luz could even try and return it Amity was back up-“I’ll go get the others!”-and already gone. In her absence, Luz took her first actual look around the room. It was the hospital her mother worked at, she had seen it a lot growing up. She wasn’t sure how she had gotten here, but Amity had been by her bedside, so it couldn’t be all bad…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ma’am, please, you can’t go in to see her yet, I need to prefo-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah right, nerd!” Luz turned toward the door just in time so see a doctor go flying back through the hall, and a deep </span>
  <em>
    <span>Thud </span>
  </em>
  <span>when he hit the ground. In filed Eda, Lilith, Amity, Gus, Willow, and her mom bringing up the rear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll just be a moment,” she whispered sweetly to the man groaning on the floor, shutting and locking the door. “Young lady.” Uh oh. That was not a good tone of voice. Eda, who had been on the brink of clapping a hand on Luz’s shoulder, instantly paled (more than she already was) and stepped back. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Et tu, Brute? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Camilia turned around, and boy she did not look happy. “You and I are going to have a long talk about </span>
  <em>
    <span>lying to your mother </span>
  </em>
  <span>about where you are for three months.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uuuuhhhhh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But right now, I’m just glad you’re ok.” She wrapped Luz into a tight hug, relief melting through all the anger. Luz wrapped one arm around her mom’s back, patting it more out of habit than anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Camilia had pulled away, she looked around the room. “What...what happened after-?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“After you kicked the snot out of the Emperor?” Eda replied excitedly. Lilith shot her a sour look, and Eda reigned herself in. Luz winced and looked at her mom, but the woman seemed to not react. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we pushed the Darke Magic back with the nullification spells, but it wouldn’t last. It was pretty clear that nothing on the Boiling Isles could help you, so we took you off the Isles.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well...how am I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Camilia’s expression became hard to read. “Well, after a </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>quick, probably unethical examination, I saw that the magic infection was behaving remarkably like a bacterial infection. So, I...administered an antibiotic. A </span>
  <em>
    <span>strong </span>
  </em>
  <span>antibiotic. It...how do you feel?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Normally, Luz would have immediately bounced up with an “I’m fine!”, but considering all the stuff she had been through, she took a moment to think about it. “I ache. All over. Like I just ran the mile in gym, but not just in my legs.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Camilia nodded. “That was a possibility. The antibiotic killed the infection, but it also may have fried your nerve endings.” She looked at Luz with a warm, but pained expression. “That ache you feel may never go away.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Luz let that sit with her for a minute. “Well, at least everyone is ok.” She looked around. Eda and Lilith were standing next to her mom, all three of them with complex expressions. Amity, Gus, and Willow were at her bedside, holding her hands or shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok.” Camilia let out a breath she had been holding. “We should really let the doctor in now.” All of them looked to the door to see a disheveled man standing at the small window, arms crossed. “He has to do a real check-up, and I have to go fight for my job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure we can come to some sort of understanding,” Lilith said regally. “You’ve broken an unbreakable curse. I will personally see to it you are not punished for your good deeds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, get a room you two! Preferably one I’m not in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edalyn!” Lilith’s demeanor immediately changed, blushing and whirling on her sister, who stood there with a smug grin. Luz couldn’t help but laugh at the display. Smile still on her face, she turned to her right. Amity was there, still holding her hand, a mixture of relief and worry in her eyes. Luz raised their hands and kissed the back of hers. The result was immediate. A blush, similar to Lilith’s, exploded across her face and she looked down at the bedsheet. Giggling a little, she turned to her other side and offered a fistbump for Gus and Willow, a human gesture she had taught them that Gus found especially fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys should go for now. I’ll be ok.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Her mom did end up keeping her job. She, Lilith, and Eda met with the hospital director about her breach of code. Thirty minutes later, the man stumbled out of the room pale and shaking, and it was never brought up again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a day and change of bedrest, Luz was discharged with a prescription for an over-the-counter pain reliever, because her mom was right. The ache didn’t stop. It varied day to day, with seemingly no real pattern. Sometimes it would be minimal, like a quiet static over the radio. Still able to hear the music, just hanging out in the background. Luz could pretty much go about her day as she used to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then there were the other days. Days where she could barely make it more than a few hours out of bed, like someone had sucked all of her energy out through a straw. Those days saw heavy use of the prescription. Thankfully all her Boiling Isles friends were incredibly supportive of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed that after the social barrier between worlds had been broken when the group brought Luz back, it was in no hurry to be repaired. Eda, Lilith, and the Hexsiders crossed back and forth frequently, sometimes spending half a day on Earth, half a day on the Isles. Lilith was very interested in the human sciences, especially medicine. She and Camilia spent a lot of time together. Eda went back and forth a lot as well, mainly for checkups and tests for cures for her curse with Camilia. She grumbled a lot about it eating up her time, but everyone could tell she was grateful. Camilia herself adjusted well to the existence of witches. The Boiling Isles was a little too much for her, but Eda and Lilith became fast friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz was grounded from learning magic for a month for lying to her mom for so long, and a load of other things, but she understood. And since the Hexsiders were coming back and forth now too, her day was far from boring like it had been before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz and Amity were sitting side-by-side on the couch, Luz’s head resting in Amity’s lap as they both watched the screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have to hit his eyeball with an arrow, and whack him when he’s on the ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know! I know!” Luz could tell the ire in Amity’s voice wasn’t directed at her, but the game. “I’m working on it!” She lept out of the way of another massive swing from the club, but got shocked by one of the electric bats flying around and was unable to shake the paralysis before the second swing came down on her head. “Ugh!” she tossed the controller to the empty side of the couch and crossed her arms as the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Game Over</span>
  </em>
  <span> screen flashed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was a lot better!” Luz said, pulling herself up and wrapping her arms around Amity’s shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wasn’t great.” Amity muttered into Luz’s hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! What do we say about that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. “‘It’s ok to not be the best out of everyone. As long as I’m the best out of me.’”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There it is! My favorite smile!” Luz beamed back at her for a second, before dramatically flopping back onto the armrest of the couch. “You gonna go again, or head back?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have homework to do.” It wasn’t a question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz grumbled and spun around petulantly. “Geometry is boring.” The armrest muffled the words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think geometry is fascinating-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course you do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-and you have to go do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz groaned again. “Alright.” Sticking an arm out, she waved her and around. “Help me up.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fond smile on, Amity stood from the couch and caught Luz’s waving hand. With a heft, Luz was on her feet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could practice more magic.” Luz said hopefully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Funny how you don’t seem to have the energy for homework, but when it comes to magic you suddenly find some more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s because I’m filled with determination!” Luz held up her arms like she was flexing her muscles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span> determined to not let you fail out of school.” Amity nudged her in the direction of her room, where the soul-draining geometry textbook sat open on her desk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, alright.” Luz conceded. Spinning around to face Amity again, she raised an eyebrow. “I still get my goodbye kiss though right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course.” Amity stepped up and wrapped her arms around Luz’s waist. “I’m not mean. Not anymore at least.” She angled her head and bent forward, and their lips connected like an old habit no one wanted to break. Amity pressed the rune on her bracelet as they did, figuring it would take Eda at least a couple minutes to get the portal up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh gross!” She was wrong. They separated to see Eda sticking her head through the white rectangle, eyes covered with one hand. “Why’d I have to see that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could get us all our own portals,” Amity remarked cooly, pecking Luz on the lips one last time before pulling away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah right. You know how hard it is to make one of these?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz wrapped her arms around Amity’s stomach from behind her, burying her face into the crook of her neck while giving Eda a wicked look. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gah! Fine, fine! I’ll work on it!” Eda turned away like she was being blinded by the sun, and Luz and Amity fistbumped around Amity’s back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you tomorrow?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You bet.” With one last wave, Amity disappeared into the doorway, and Luz watched as it folded in on itself, popping out of existence. She sighed at where the spot was, but she steeled her nerve, turning to face her room like a giant monster. She had a girlfriend to impress after all. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know what's better than one mom? Two moms. You know what's better than two moms? Two moms and a disaster aunt who's basically your third mom.</p><p>Ok, this is the actual final chapter. I know I haven't been super on top of the total chapter count, but the story feels satisfactorily concluded now.</p><p>Sorry if I got some of the medical stuff wrong, and thanks for Discord friend Sam for helping me understand chronic pain a bit better.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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